The present invention is directed to an electronic mail system that displays advertisements to remote users, and in particular, to a system that displays targeted advertisements to remote users when the users are off-line.
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
Electronic mail (or xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d) is becoming a popular way for people to communicate. Using e-mail, a person can send messages and other information (such as pictures, sound recordings, formatted documents, etc. that are in digital form) electronically to other e-mail users.
E-mail communication systems are generally regarded as multi-cast store-and-forward bi-directional communication systems. A user can send e-mail messages to one or more recipients at a time. An e-mail system is regarded as bi-directional as, usually, a user can both send and receive e-mail messages.
When using e-mail to communicate, a user will typically create a message using an e-mail program running on a computer that is or can be connected by a network to other computers. The message will include the e-mail address of the intended recipient. When the user has finished entering the message, the user will xe2x80x9csendxe2x80x9d the message to the intended recipientxe2x80x94the message is electronically transmitted via the computer network. The recipient, also using an e-mail program running on a computer connected to the computer network, can then read the received message.
A common computer network used to send and receive e-mail is the Internet. The Internet allows users to send and receive e-mail to and from computers around the world. Typically, each user will have an Internet e-mail address unique to that user, e.g., bob@pto.com. A user with an e-mail account and a computer that can connect to the Internet can easily send and receive e-mail over the Internet.
There are a number of ways that a user can connect to the Internet to send and receive e-mail. A user can have an account with a proprietary on-line network, such as, for example, Prodigy, America Online, CompuServe or Microsoft Network. Using a computer with a modem, the user dials up the on-line network""s access number and connects to the on-line network. The user can then send and receive e-mail to and from other users of the on-line network and, provided that the on-line network is connected to the Internet, with those having an Internet e-mail address. An alternative method to connect with the Internet is via an Internet Service Provider. Using a modem, the user dials the access number of the Internet Service Provider, and establishes a connection with a computer xe2x80x9cdirectlyxe2x80x9d connected to or part of the Internet. The user can then operate an e-mail program, such as Eudora, to send and receive e-mail over the Internet.
In many existing systems, users read and write e-mail while on-line, i.e., while connected to the on-line network or the Internet Service Provider. Costs of operating the on-line network (including communication and hardware costs) are higher when users are connected to the network. Also, some on-line networks and Internet Access Providers charge per minute of connect time. Accordingly, it is more cost effective if users read and write e-mail messages when off-line (e.g., when not connected to the on-line network).
Some existing on-line services display advertising to users. For example, advertisements are shown on part of the screen to users of the America Online network. When accessing certain World Wide Web sites on the Internet, advertisements are often included as part of the web page seen by the user. Often in such systems, each user accessing a certain screen or site is shown the same advertisement. Sophisticated systems have the capability to change the advertisement after a certain period of time. However, in such systems the user must remain connected to the network to see the replacement advertisement.
When using a browser program (such as Netscape""s Navigator program) to access pages on the World Wide Web, information, which may include advertisements, may be downloaded and cached at a user""s computer. This information can be flushed from the cache at a later time, as determined by the browser program. In some cases, this information may be flushed when the browser program is xe2x80x9coff-line.xe2x80x9d However, advertisements are not automatically replaced in a web page and new, unseen advertisements are not displayed as part of a web page when in such disconnected mode.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system that displays and automatically replaces displayed advertisements while disconnected from the network.
In particular, there is a need for an e-mail system that operates mostly off-line and that can display and automatically replace displayed advertisements while off-line.
Advertisers find it desirable to target advertisements to relevant potential customers. For example, an advertiser of stockings would prefer to target women rather than men with its advertising. A Boston restaurant would prefer to target residents of Boston and business travelers rather than children living in San Francisco. Moreover, advertisers prefer to pay for advertising based upon the number of relevant consumers who are actually exposed to the advertisement. For prior on-line systems and networks, including the World Wide Web, it is often difficult for an advertiser to precisely determine whether its advertisements were actually viewed by a user and for how long, and whether the advertisement induced a response. Accordingly, there exists a need for a targeted advertisement system that also can provide information as to the characteristics of those who were exposed to each advertisement, for how long the user was exposed, and at what times.
Existing e-mail systems have other disadvantages. In existing dial-up e-mail systems, a user is provided with an access telephone number to connect to the network. Typically, at the network there are a number of mail servers and each user""s received e-mail messages are stored on one of those mail servers. Because many users use the same access number to connect to the network, the network requires capabilities to switch users to the mail server that stores that user""s e-mail. Existing e-mail networks determine at the server side and while the user is on-line who the user is and that user""s mail server, and then switch the user to that mail serverxe2x80x94a time consuming operation, especially if there are many users accessing the network. There exists a need for an e-mail system where the network does not have to decide, as part of the switching process, which mail server is to be accessed by each user.
The present invention is directed to a disconnected electronic mail system that displays targeted advertisements. More particularly, the present invention allows users to view advertisements while receiving, composing, and managing personal electronic communications.
In a representative embodiment of the present invention, a xe2x80x9cmostly disconnected,xe2x80x9d highly scalable, client-server architecture is provided for the delivery of personal communications and advertisements. The representative embodiment provides higher performance than existing systems, and consequently lower costs per user.
The representative embodiment of the present invention is xe2x80x9cmostly disconnectedxe2x80x9d because it batches up requests for on-demand transmission to the server. Accordingly, efficiency of connections is increased to nearly 100%, making it more economically viable than one that leaves the connection open.
In the representative embodiment of the present invention, a client computer is used by each user and runs a client program. The client computer may be, for example, a personal computer with an Intel Pentium or 486 processor and a Microsoft Windows or OS/2 operating system. The client computer has the capability to connect to a remote computer network, e.g., by modem. The client computer also has a secondary memory device, such as, for example, a hard disk drive. The client program of the present invention is stored on the hard disk drive and is executed by the client computer""s processor.
The client program periodically communicates with a server system. In the representative embodiment, the server system comprises a number of mail servers and a database management system. Each mail server is a high speed processor with secondary memory. Each mail server is coupled to the database management system and to an external computer network, such as, for example, the Internet. Each of the mail servers executes a server program. The server system has communication facilities to allow client computers to connect with mail servers, so that client programs can communicate with server programs.
In the representative embodiment, the client computer is remotely located with respect to the server system. Typically, there are many users, each with a client computer executing the client program and capable of communicating simultaneously with the server system.
Although the terms xe2x80x9cclientxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d are used herein, the present invention is not a client/server local area network. Moreover, the architecture of the present invention is not limited to what is known in the art as a client/server network.
In the representative embodiment, a user can use the client program to read, write, edit, send, receive and store electronic mail (xe2x80x9ce-mailxe2x80x9d). The term e-mail when used herein includes messages that are transmitted over a communications network, computer to computer. E-mail messages include text messages, graphics, formatted documents and files, sound files, MPEG files and the like. It will be appreciated, however, that the principles of the present invention will apply to other types of computer based communications other than e-mail.
Sending E-Mail: Using the client program, the user composes one or more e-mail messages. The messages include the e-mail address of the intended recipient. The user composes the messages while off-line, i.e., when the user is composing a message, the client computer is not connected to the server system. While composing e-mail messages, advertisements are displayed to the user by the client program. The advertisements can be displayed in a separate window, e.g., in a small window at the top of the screen of the client computer. When finished composing e-mail messages, the user instructs the client program to send the e-mail messages to the intended recipients.
Accordingly, the client program causes the client computer to establish an electronic connection with the server system. In the representative embodiment, the client program causes the client computer""s modem to establish a telephone link to the server system. The client program then transmits the outgoing e-mail messages to the server system. Once communications with the server system are complete, the client computer goes off-line by terminating the phone call. During the connection and transmission process, advertisements are displayed to the user by the client program.
The e-mail messages that were communicated to the server system are transmitted to the intended recipients, e.g., over the Internet or to the mailboxes of the intended recipients on the mail servers of the server system.
Receiving E-Mail: E-mail messages received by the server system, e.g., via the Internet or from other users of the server system, are stored for each user in a predetermined directory on a predetermined mail server. When a user wishes to check to see if the user has received e-mail messages, the user instructs the client program to retrieve such e-mail messages from the client system.
Accordingly, the client program causes the client computer to establish an electronic connection with the server system, as discussed above. The server system transmits the e-mail messages for that user to the client program. Once communications with the server system are complete, the client computer goes off-line. During the connection and transmission process, advertisements are displayed to the user by the client program.
Using the client program, the user can read the received e-mail messages. The user reads e-mail received while off-line, i.e., when the user is reading messages, the client computer is not connected to the server system. While reading e-mail messages, advertisements are displayed to the user by the client program.
It will be appreciated that e-mail can be sent and received during the same connection. That is, when the client computer establishes a connection with the server system, e-mail messages can be transferred both from the client computer to server system and from the server system to the client computer.
The communications between the client program and the server system may be regarded as a batch system, as e-mail messages are created and read off-line, and e-mail messages that are to be transferred are transferred as a batch when the client computer establishes a connection with the server system.
An e-mail system such as that of the representative embodiment of the present invention that connects only while transferring e-mail and advertising material has many advantages that have not been exploited by existing on-line services. One such advantage is that communication costs and hardware requirements are substantially lower than for xe2x80x9cfully-connectedxe2x80x9d on-line service. Moreover, while the system of the present invention is designed to operate in a mostly disconnected mode, the present invention will replace displayed advertisements with other advertisements while disconnected.
Targeted Advertisements: When first using the system of the present invention, the user completes a member profile (or survey) at the client computer. The member profile records information about the user, e.g., hobbies, interests, employment, education, sports, demographics, etc. The client program transmits the member profile to the server system when the user""s client program first establishes a connection with the server system (e.g., on initial sign-up). The member profile is stored in the database management system of the server system.
The server system utilizes the information in the member profile to determine which advertisements should be directed to the user. Accordingly, an advertisement distribution scheduler of the server system decides which advertisements are eligible for distribution for each user.
Whenever a user (i.e., the client program of the user) establishes a connection with the server system (e.g., to send and/or receive mail), eligible advertisements can be transmitted from the server system to the client program and stored on a memory device (e.g., a hard disk drive) of the client computer.
The xe2x80x9cdown-loadedxe2x80x9d advertisements that are stored locally can then be displayed to the user when the user is off-line, for example, when composing and reading e-mail messages, and when in the process of establishing a connection with the server system. The advertisements can also be displayed when other communications are taking place between the client program and the server system.
Thus, unlike prior systems, the present invention stores advertisements at the user""s client computer so that the advertisements can be displayed when the user is not on-line. The display can be changed at periodic intervals when the client program is in use, e.g., every thirty seconds a new advertisement can be displayed.
Unlike partially connected systems that request a connection immediately when new data is required (such as in a system utilizing a browser program to access World Wide Web pages), the present invention will delay all server requests until a connection is actually established by the user. The present invention has a local advertisement system that controls the output of advertisements when the client computer is disconnected. In sharp contrast, browser programs, such as Netscape""s Navigator program, do not have locally controlled advertisement systems directed to the off-line display of advertisements.
It will be appreciated that the advertisements also may include community service messages, system information messages, colorful and pleasing artwork, photographic works, logos, slogans and the like. As used herein, the term advertisement includes any content other than or unrelated to e-mail messages or other such messages used in communications between users.
Additionally, the client program of the present invention allows the user to select a particular advertisement (e.g., by double clicking on the message using a computer mouse) to have displayed additional information relating to the advertisement. For example, a user may select a displayed advertisement for a motor vehicle and the client program will cause to be displayed a screen of additional information concerning the motor vehicle and the locations of approved dealers. This additional information is also stored locally on a storage device of the client computer, and can be displayed to the user when the client program is off-line and not connected to the server system.
Optionally, an advertisement displayed by the client program of the present invention may include a xe2x80x9cmore informationxe2x80x9d button. When the user selects the xe2x80x9cmore informationxe2x80x9d button, a predetermined message requesting further information is prepared and communicated to the server system when the client program next connects to the server system. At that or a later time, additional related information is sent by e-mail to the user who made the request.
In the representative embodiment, the user may wish to send an e-mail message to an advertiser. The advertisements displayed by client program of the present invention can include e-mail address information for the advertiser (or related persons, such as dealers, stores, customer assistance, etc.). If the user wishes to send an e-mail message to the advertiser, the user can select the e-mail address (or a predetermined button, e.g., an xe2x80x9ce-mail to advertiserxe2x80x9d button) and the client program will automatically format an appropriate e-mail message with the correct e-mail address and/or enable the user to easily compose an e-mail message to the advertiser.
The client program records (i) which advertisements are shown to the user, for how long and at what times; (ii) when there is a period of inactivity while the client program is running on the client computer, for example, if the user does not enter an instruction for a period of five minutes; and (iii) whether any advertisement has been altered by the user. This information is stored in an advertisement statistics file on the client computer and is communicated to the server system when the client computer establishes a connection with the server system to send and receive e-mail messages. The server system stores data from each advertisement statistics file in the database management system. The information in the advertisement statistics file can be used to create billing information to bill advertisers based on advertisements actually viewed.
Thus, unlike prior systems, the present invention can download to a client computer a number of advertisements (which may or may not actually be viewed by the user) and bill the advertisers only for those advertisements displayed to the user.
Moreover, an advertisement may be downloaded once but viewed many times by a user, thus reducing transmission costs. The advertiser can be billed for the multiple viewings of the advertisement. This is in sharp contrast to advertisements displayed on the World Wide Web, where a user may visit a web site many times but because of caching functions of most web browsers, the advertiser is unaware that the advertisement has been viewed more than once. Further, web advertisers at present have no way of determining for how long the advertisement was displayed to the user. Thus, the integrated targeted advertisement system of the present invention provides a number of advantages over web-based systems. According to the present invention, users willingly identify themselves and their consumer interests, and make user verification possible. Furthermore, the system of the present invention can provide extremely accurate data as to how long an advertisement was shown to a user, when it was clicked on, and how many times it was shown before the user responded to the advertisement.
The server system can utilize the information from the advertisement statistics file to direct follow-up e-mail messages xe2x80x9cfrom advertisersxe2x80x9d to users. For example, after an advertisement has been displayed to the user, the server system can send an e-mail message relating to the advertisement to that user.
According to the present invention, display of advertisements is determined by the client program. The client program includes a scheduler module that determines which advertisements to display to the user and for how long.
The client program also records (i) when a user activates the client program; (ii) how long the client program was used; (iii) modem configuration problems; (iv) information as to how well the client program functioned; (v) any communication problems with the server system; and (vi) other statistical information useful to predict a user""s future behavior with respect to the client program. This information is stored in an event log file on the client computer and is communicated to the server system when the user sends and/or receives e-mail messages or whenever the client computer establishes a connection with the server system. The server system stores data from each event log file in the database management system.
As discussed above, the advertisement distribution scheduler of the server system determines which advertisements are eligible for distribution to each user. The advertisement distribution system can utilize the information in the event log file and/or advertisement statistics file in making the determination as to which advertisements are eligible for distribution to a particular user.
The server system also includes a download scheduler module that determines when to download (i.e., transfer) a particular advertisement to a user. The client scheduler module, the advertisement distribution scheduler and the download scheduler module are disclosed in co-pending patent application entitled xe2x80x9cMethod and Apparatus For Scheduling the Presentation of Messages to Computer Users,xe2x80x9d in the names of Brian D. Marsh and Jon D. Mc Auliffe, Ser. No. 08/636,745, filed concurrently herewith, and expressly incorporated herein by reference, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,397.
The advertisements displayed to users are not correlated with a user""s e-mail in anyway. Thus, the advertisments can be regarded as context independent. The e-mail messages come from a different source than that of the advertisements (e.g., the e-mail messages originate from other network users, while the advertisements originate from advertisers). Advertisements that are tranferred to a client computer are not in anyway related to the content of the e-mail messages that may be transferred to or from the client computer. There need not be any correlation between the number of e-mail messages sent and/or received and the number of advertisements transferred to or stored at the client computer. In the representative embodiment, advertisements are stored at the client computer in a different subdirectory to that of e-mail messages, and are not linked to any particular e-mail message or messages. Control of the display of e-mail messages is independent to that of the control of the display of advertisementsxe2x80x94the client program determines which advertisements to display and at what times, whereas the user determines which e-mail message to read and when to read and write e-mail messages. The content of the e-mail message that is read or written by a user is unrelated to the content of any advertisement that is displayed, e.g., a user could be reading an e-mail message about a vacation in Paris and the advertisement which is displayed may be for shampoo.
Further, users who do not receive any e-mail messages are shown advertisements, e.g., when writing and sending e-mail messages, and when checking to see if any e-mail messages have been received.
In the representative embodiment, a user""s e-mail messages are stored on one of many mail servers. The client computer stores switching information that allows the client computer to contact to the mail server that stores the e-mail messages for its user directly through the use of an intelligent network. This switching information is referred to as a xe2x80x9cbindingxe2x80x9d between the client and server computers. By having each client computer maintain this binding, connections go directly to the data source instead of through a gateway or switch, eliminating a level of indirection (i.e., the use of an expensive server to route the connection) or the need for caching on the gateway. The binding mechanism of the present invention offers greater scalability by exploiting the fact that the association between the client computer and the server computer needs to be changed only occasionally.